Our new series, THE BRAIN DUMP
We’ve just posted the first episode of our new mashup series, THE BRAIN DUMP. Only on #Patreon. You can support the show for as little as $1 per month, but the first one’s always free, kid…
We’ve just posted the first episode of our new mashup series, THE BRAIN DUMP. Only on #Patreon. You can support the show for as little as $1 per month, but the first one’s always free, kid…
A new entry in the Mother’s Day Horror Film canon. Only 15 minutes long, and NOT for the faint of heart, but it has an assured sense of visual storytelling that’s more apparent on 2nd viewing. If you can stand it. I was seriously squirming, and also quite impressed. Never underestimate a Mother’s love.
Rube Goldberg is the patron saint of computer programmers everywhere. His entire career is a running gag, creating the most insanely complex machines to do the simplest tasks. Having been a developer for many years myself, I can tell you from that this is a clandestine form of job security for many in the IT world.
You’ve probably seen his illustrations. Or you’ve played the game, Mouse Trap, based on his oeuvre. The band, Ok Go, paid homage to him in their video for “This Too Shall Pass.”
And now, fittingly, there’s a competition in schools to carry his torch forward. “Machines were constructed to open an umbrella with an operating time of up to two minutes. They had to perform the task using no less than 20, but no more than 75, steps… Twenty people worked to create the Mary Poppins themed machine, which used 33 steps that focused on the use of marbles and momentum to make things move. Marbles fell down chutes, toy cars slid down tracks and dominoes fell to trigger the umbrella to open.”
In 1971, he served as artist-in-residence at UC Berkeley and offered a spring semester lecture, African-American Studies 198, also known as “Sun Ra 171,” “The Black Man in the Universe,” or “The Black man in the Cosmos.”
…Now we have the rare opportunity to hear a full lecture from that class at the top of the post. Listen to Sun Ra spin his intricate, bizarrely otherworldly theories, drawn from his personal philosophy, peculiar etymologies, and idiosyncratic readings of religious texts. Hearing him speak is a little like hearing him play, so be prepared for a lot of free association and jarring, unexpected juxtapositions.
“Sun Ra wrote biblical quotes on the board and then ‘permutated’ them—rewrote and transformed their letters and syntax into new equations of meaning, while members of the Arkestra passed through the room, preventing anyone from taping the class. His lecture subjects included Neoplatonic doctrines; the application of ancient history and religious texts to racial problems; pollution and war; and a radical reinterpretation of the Bible in light of Egyptology.”
Luckily for us, some sly student captured one of those lectures on tape.
For the uninitiated, stock photos are used by ad agencies to sell products in print and online. Can’t imagine any product on Earth being referenced here.
Thanks to Seth Bassler.
See more: 60 Completely Unusable Stock Photos